Sunny Sunday!

Another beautiful day, warm sun and cool breezes, perfect for a paddle. Any excuse is a good excuse to go paddling;) The tide was high, so we were able to paddle in all of the inner coves and got in a much longer paddle, and I am definitely sore, but a good sore.

Bill enjoyed himself and here he is in front of one of the old building at Smith's Castle. It is right down the road from us, but I have never gone there, maybe someday.

I was walking in the water and stumbled upon our old friend, the horseshoe crab. He was swimming around the bottom and a few times tried crawling onto Bill's foot. Here are a few fun facts about the Horseshoe crab.

1. This is a crab that isn't a crab!  It is distantly related to spiders and scorpions.  To avoid confusion, let's call it by its correct name, Limulus polyphemus. (Pronounced Lim-u-lus poly-feem-us)

2. The Limulus is a "living fossil" whose origin dates back to Triassic times, over 200 million years ago, a time when the first dinosaurs and primitive mammals appeared.  Few other well-known animals can claim that record.  It is not easy to be a living fossil.  To apply for this category, that animal can only have, at most, a few close relatives.  The body form should not have changed over the years.  A true living fossil's family tree must be tens, or preferably hundreds, of millions of years old.


3.  Its tail is NOT a weapon.  The animal almost never carries it in an upright position so there is little chance that people might step on the upright tail.   This tail, or telson, serves one real purpose: to assist the animal in turning over should a wave tip it on its back.


I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Antique Kitty, Lazy Kitty!

Our ebay group USAPRIM has challenges and each month Kelley gives us a design that we can make, and this month she found an antique kitty that we could punch or hook. I decided to punch mine and make it into a piece I could hang on my peg rack.

It also looks nice hanging on my black cupboard.

 And today we put the air conditioner in, it was really humid today. Moki likes the air, my other cats hated it, but he has been laying there, all day. When I turned it off, he left, so we know were he will be spending his hot summer days. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend.

A Repurposed Quilt and Giveaway!

Last week, My friend Kelley, sent me a goody box and one of the items was an unfinished mini quilt. She had sewn the squares together and decided she didn't want it, so it came to my house. I decided it was the perfect size for a table mat, so I added a border and hand stitched the squares and added some stitchery on the borders.

It was something fun to do while I rested my hip, which decided to act up after our last paddle trip.
I used black pearl cotton to do the hand quilting and floss for the outer stitchery. I also antiqued it, I like how some places got darker, like an old stained piece. The appliqué came from a Whimsicals book, I modified it to fit the corner of this piece.

I was hoping to finish it earlier so I could get a photo, outside, but it got dark before it was dry, so the flash messed it up a bit. No idea how the edge got so crooked, I could say, I did that on purpose, lol.

And for those of you who would like to win some fun patterns, check out Cleo and Me. They have two contests going, so look at both posts. And there are no entries, not even me, lol. I have enough cute ones, so here is your chance to get in on a wonderful giveaway with a  great chance of winning.

And here is how it looks as a mat. Goes nicely on this bureau, might just leave it there. The mat is 21" x 15". 

Sunday Paddle and Freebie!

Yes, I was out on the bay again, it was just too beautiful to be inside and I had no desire to do any real work, like cleaning or yard work;)

We went back to the cove, it is close by, nice launch and no traffic. It was hotter today, but nice cool breezes on the bay.

At the beach stop, there was a family having an outing and they pulled this guy out of the water. He was not too happy about that and was crawling back to the water.

Since it was low tide, we couldn't get into the coves as well, so today we did a short practice run into the bay. I love paddling in the bay and riding the waves, so maybe next week, we will try a short run in the open waters.

And if you would like a wonderful freebie to make, check out Kathy Schmitz's blog, she has a beautiful sewing roll to make, definitely on my to do list.

Saturday Paddle!

Today was a perfect day for paddling, warm sun and a cool ocean breeze. My son came with us and he really had a good time and enjoyed himself. 

The guys paddling and chatting.

Father and son, enjoying the view.

It was low tide, so a lot of gulls enjoying the beach today.

This guy found himself a nice fresh conch shell. He would fly up and drop it on the rocks to get the meat out. Now I know why I can't find a nice conch shell that isn't broken up;)

There were a lot of boats out today, especially sailboats, perfect day for sailing and most were heading out to the bay.

My son was having fun walking in the water and looking for crabs. This guy was not happy to be taken out of the water, but he posed for me anyways. I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. I am working on a few new projects, so I will have at least one done by monday.

Davis's Girls Progress!

Today I pieced the middle three blocks together and then I was able to add the butterflies and birds.
On the original, they are left plain, but I might do some simple stitching in them, later, we shall see.

The original has orange butterflies, so I used some of my hand dyed wool that is more of an orange red.
The tree pattern was done by folding the fabric in half and then cutting them out, I think mine came out a bit too thick. Three more ladies to go, then I can start adding the sashing.

The pattern is from the book, "Civil War Woman", by Barbara Brackman.

Yesterday we were able to get out for a walk, before the rains came. The swans were out, but no babies yet.

Fabric choices and Giveaway Prizes!

Last week I went to the quilt stores to find something that matched the blue and white that would match what is in the Jefferson Davis's Daughter quilt, by Barbara Brackman, that I am working on. Of course there was nothing like it or in the shades I wanted, so this is what I found. The darker blue will be the sashing, it seems a lot brighter in the photo. The reproduction border fabric is from the abe lincoln collection, that is all I remember.

What do you think of these fabrics? I am finishing up the second tree and then I can sew the middle section together and add the rest of the appliqués.

I also won a few wonderful giveaways this month. Deborah O'Hare has a wonderful blog, actually two and I have been following her for over a year, her pieces inspire me to create my own art pieces. I won the book, Seaside Home, and I love it. It has a lot of patterns to make things for the home, or summer cottage.

This is Deborah's pattern, I plan on making it and changing it a little by adding inspirational words to the stones. Deborah has done that in one of her patterns and she said it was ok, if I used her idea in my piece.

I also participated in the 100 blocks, blog hop and I did win a copy from Nancy at One Stitch at a Time, I also won a free pattern from Cyndi of Carter Creek Quilts. It is a wonderful pattern and will look beautiful in a lot of different colors and fabrics. 

I was finally able to get out for a paddle, a nice way to spend Mother's Day. It was a beautify day and there were so many wonderful birds out, and I didn't have my good camera with the zoom. I had to use my waterproof camera, so this is the best I could get from the photos I took. I need to find a larger, waterproof case for my  new camera.

This is my bow, as usual, it got windy and I had to paddle against the wind, most of the day. I also had a tetanus shot friday, so you could say, it wasn't an easy paddle, but well worth it;)